Senior Manager, Strategy & Planning in St Albans

Posted Thursday, 27 August 2026 at 22:00 | Expires Monday, 7 September 2026 at 21:59

At Costa Coffee, we’re on a mission to reimagine coffee experiences across the globe. From bustling cities to local communities, we’re creating meaningful coffee moments, powered by innovation and driven by purpose.

As a proud part of the Coca-Cola system and working hand in hand with our pioneering partners, we’re in over 50 countries and counting. Whether it's served in-store, from a machine, at home, or on the go, every cup is thoughtfully crafted by our passionate teams who put heart into every moment.

Our teams truly make a difference. Whether it's pioneering new tech for the perfect pour, launching award-winning campaigns, developing exciting new menu items, or supporting our people to grow – together, we stir up success.

This new role within Group Strategy is the operational engine of the Strategic Planning workstream, turning strategic choices into a connected planning rhythm and decision-ready outputs. It owns multi-horizon portfolio visibility, drives closed-loop performance discipline, and systematises how external signals feed early-stage innovation. Sitting at the centre of cross-functional engagement, it partners with senior leaders across CMO, Supply Chain, Commercial, Finance and Insights to strengthen the organisation’s strategic execution muscle.

We value curiosity, inclusivity, and a problem-solving mindset. If you thrive in a fast-paced, global environment and are excited to make a meaningful impact, we encourage you to apply.

With inspiring experiences, development programmes, and our apprenticeship scheme, your career can grow far beyond the day-to-day.

What you’ll do:

Being a Senior Manager, Strategy & Planning is about so much more than bringing our coffee to the world. It’s your chance to stir up real success - which means you will:

• Operate the integrated planning cadence. Run the LRP-to-ABP cycle end-to-end, coordinate cross-functional inputs, and deliver consistent, decision-ready outputs to senior leadership.
• Build multi-horizon portfolio visibility. Maintain the live 18-36-month portfolio dashboard as the single source of truth, surfacing risks and trade-offs early.
• Translate Group strategy into platform roadmaps. Convert strategic choices into sequenced, time-bound platform plans with clear ownership and long-lead enabler triggers.
• Track strategic assumptions and breakpoints. Own the assumption register, define thresholds with Finance and Insights, and flag divergence early enough to act before performance shifts.
• Establish the horizon-to-action pipeline. Systematise trend-scanning with Insights and CMO so external signals feed pre-Gate 0 triage in time to shape the planning cycle..

Who you are:

It’s your unique ingredients we’re interested in:

• Strategic planning expertise. Proven experience running integrated / End to End planning cycles (LRP/ABP or equivalent) in a multi-function organisation.
• Commercial and category awareness. Strong understanding of CPG / FMCG, retail or foodservice dynamics, with the ability to translate market context into planning implications.
• Process design capability. Skilled at designing or evolving planning processes, frameworks and playbooks; comfortable creating new standards from scratch.
• Analytical and communication strength. Advanced Excel and portfolio tooling capability, exceptional narrative writing and presentation skills, and the ability to surface risks and trade-offs through structured analysis.
• Senior-level credibility and collaboration. Articulate, detail-driven and able to build durable cross-functional partnerships, establishing trust quickly with VPs and senior leaders in a complex matrix environment..

So, why Costa?

We didn’t become a global coffee brand by sitting back. When you work here, you join a community that values passion, progression, and integrity—with some brilliant perks to sweeten the deal. We work in a hybrid environment, giving us the flexibility to balance life while still spending meaningful time together and building strong connections:

• Own a piece of Costa’s success by becoming a share owner in Coca-Cola with our Share Investment Plan (SIP)
• An annual discretionary bonus scheme, based on business results and individual contribution.
• A smart pension that saves you money on tax and national insurance, and matches your contributions up to 10%
• The Costa Financial Support Fund, supporting team members who find themselves in unexpected financial pressure
• 50% discount in all Costa-owned stores, and 25% off in other participating stores
• Private medical cover thanks to our Private Healthcare scheme
• And that’s not all. Explore even more of our perks here: https://bit.ly/costaperks

Location - Where you’ll work:

Right now, our Support Centre teams work flexibly, blending home working with in-person time whenever it matters most – whether that’s a team moment, a creative session, or simply coming together to share ideas.

We’re excited to be moving into anew home for our brand in St Albans in January 2027 – an inspiring space from which our Support Centre teams will work three days a week to connect and collaborate in-person to bring our bold ambition to life.

For any reasonable adjustments and general queries, please get in touch with costa.recruitment@costacoffee.com